I...this is an ending. It's a hot mess but...it's better than leaving it where it was, like I had sorta been planning to do.

*Nearly Three Years Later*

Connor patched things up with Jude pretty quickly. He was very understanding once Connor explained that Daria knew his dad. And Daria was good on her word, because as far as he knew, his dad hadn't found out. But—Connor hadn't heard from his dad in six months, so he had no way of knowing for sure. Maybe that's why he hadn't been talking to him.

Not that it mattered if that was true, because no matter what he still had Jude, and their relationship was as strong as ever. And his life was honestly incredible. He made the starting lineup for the UCLA baseball team in that very first year, and now, after three strong seasons, he was being scouted by MLB teams. Scouted!

Oh, and not to mention that right now, he and Jude were in Omaha, because UCLA was playing in the finals of the College World Series. Their series with Texas A&M was tied, one game apiece and the final game was tonight. All they had to do was win, and they'd be the NCAA Division I baseball champs.

"Jeez Connor, you look like you're gonna pass out—or throw up," Josh commented while they were sitting on their beds in their hotel room that afternoon. Josh was now a senior, and had been Connor's roomie on road trips since the very beginning (mostly because he didn't mind if Jude, who came along on all roadies, snuck in to snuggle with Connor overnight (and that was because Connor didn't mind if Josh did the same with Tyler (but they definitely had a rule against having sex in the room because—well, they were a close-knit group, but there were limits))).

"What? Oh, I'm fine," Connor replied distractedly.

"Yeah, this is nothing," Jude remarked, slipping into the room. "You should've seen him before the time I first watched him play."

"How was that more nerve-wracking than playing a win-or-go-home game in front of millions of people?" Josh inquired, and Tyler sat up and punched him in the shoulder.

"Shut the fuck up Josh, you're not helping him. Besides, how are you so calm? I'm already a nervous wreck and I'm not even playing!"

"I don't know," Josh shrugged. "But I'm not gonna question it."

"You'll be great Con, I know it," Jude murmured, putting his arm around Connor's shoulders to coax him to the head of the bed. "You always are."

"Thanks Jude," Connor sighed, breathing deeply as Jude ran his fingers through his hair.

"I can't believe that this is your last baseball game," he heard Tyler say quietly to Josh.

"Aww c'mon Tyler, you can't get emotional about this or I'm gonna start crying," Josh replied, pulling Tyler into a headlock.

"Alright, alright, I won't!" Tyler laughed, struggling feebly against Josh's strong arms.

"You two disgust me," Connor snorted, feeling Jude's chest bounce as he giggled up against him.

"Oh be quiet!" they both snapped at the same time.

"Everyone knows that you two are worse," Tyler quipped, tossing a pillow at them, which caused an impromptu pillow fight, going a long way to relieving some of Connor's tension.

Eventually they ran out of time, and everyone had to go their separate ways for the game, but Connor held Tyler back in the room for an extra moment, slipping something in his jacket pocket.

"I don't care what you have to do," Connor whispered. "But make sure that and Jude gets to me after the game."

"Sure thing Con," Tyler nodded understandingly. "But this—this is a huge stage. You sure you want to do this?" he added.

"I've never been so sure of anything in my life before," Connor answered confidently. He'd had this planned out since they knew they were playing in the finals.

"Okay. I guess now, go knock 'em dead!"

"We'll do our best," Connor smiled, patting Tyler on the shoulder before jogging after Josh.

Jude was vibrating from nerves. The game was tight, and they were down 5-4 in the bottom of the ninth inning, two outs, a runner on third (Josh), and Connor up to bat. Connor had to get a hit for UCLA to at least tie the game and force extra innings for a chance at winning the championship.

Connor had been in this position before, and Jude knew he was calm, but Jude was never calm when Connor was playing. Tyler, sitting on his left, put a hand on Jude's shoulder in support, and his mom, on his right did the same. Connor looked up in the stands, like he always did before he came up to bat, smiling at Jude. Jude returned the smile, though he was sure it came out looking more like a grimace. Connor paused, and gave Jude a reassuring look.

I got this, he was telling him.

Jude nodded, and Connor stepped into the batter's box, digging his heels in and staring the pitcher down. He was Texas A&M's closer, and he hadn't blown a save all year (in 29 attempts). With a fastball topping out at 98 MPH, a change up nearly 15 MPH slower (the change in speed had many batters way out in front of the pitch), and a slider with nearly two and a half feet of break, he was virtually unhittable. Jude knew all this, as did Connor, but Connor didn't seem at all fazed.

The first pitch was a slider that missed the strike zone, and on the next pitch, Connor watched a changeup paint the outside corner for a strike. But the third pitch, a fastball right down the middle, Connor jumped on, smacking it out to straight away center field. The centerfielder took one look up at the ball, and began trotting in towards his dugout; there was no doubt that it was leaving the ballpark, a homerun that gave UCLA the 6-5 walk-off win.

Jude leapt to his feet, screaming and hugging his moms. He turned to Tyler, who grabbed his arm and began pulling him down towards the field.

"Can we even go down there?" Jude yelled over the roar of the crowd.

"No idea," Tyler shrugged. "But we're doing it anyway."

They jumped over the dugout, and no one stopped them, so they ran into the scrum of players celebrating on the field. Jude had just barely found Connor at the bottom of the pile when a reporter came jogging up to them.

"Connor! Connor! Can we have minute?" she asked.

"Yeah, sure," Connor grinned, tossing an arm around Jude and dragging him along. Unseen to Jude, Tyler came by and slipped something into Connor's hand before going back to join Josh.

"Wow, that was absolutely incredible," the reporter—Holly prompted, sticking a microphone in Connor's face.

"Yeah, it was pretty crazy," Connor replied, squeezing Jude tightly into his side, forcing him into view of the camera.

"I'm hearing that that homerun was measured at 483 feet. Tell me, what was going through your head as you were at the plate?"

"I was just thinking I had to find a way to win this game for the guys," Connor shrugged.

"Well, I certainly can say you did that," Holly chuckled. "Now Connor, you're only a junior, but given the series you had here in Omaha, I have to imagine there's going to be a lot of interest from MLB teams. Any thoughts about leaving school and entering the draft?"

"No, I'm not planning on it," Connor answered, turning to beam at Jude. "I've got a few more important things left at UCLA yet."

"Such as?" the reporter pressed.

"This guy right here," Connor said, turning to press a kiss to Jude's cheek. "He's got one year left, so I'm staying at UCLA with him."

"Oh, well then—"

"Jude."

"Jude, you must be very important, if Connor Stevens is putting his MLB career on hold for you."

"I like to think so, yeah," Jude said, feeling Connor's arm slip out from around his shoulders.

"Oh my," Holly gasped a few seconds later, her eyes going wide at whatever Connor was doing. Jude turned to see what was going on, and his heart nearly stopped.

"Con," he whispered, using his hands to cover his mouth. Connor was holding a small felt box, down on one knee, in front of 24,000 fans in the stadium and millions more watching on television.

"Jude," Connor started, looking up at Jude with already teary eyes. "Oh Jude, I know without a doubt that I wouldn't be here right now without you. I'm only everything I am because I've had you at my side for the last three years. I may have just won the College World Series, but no thrill could ever compare to the way I feel when you smile at me. But even so, I can't think of a better stage to declare that I love you and that I always will, no matter what. If what happened in this game is any indication, a lot is going to change in the next couple of years, but I know without a doubt that I want to face that with you. So Jude Adams-Foster, will you marry me?"

Jude nodded rapidly because he knew his voice would be no use. Connor gave him a blinding smile, taking the simple gold band from the box and slipping it on his finger, and then rising to his feet and kissing Jude thoroughly.

"Congratulations you two," Holly said, crying herself, and then she and the camera man turned and went on to interview their next player. Tyler and Josh came running up to them, mobbing them, as did Jude's moms, who had managed to force their way onto the field when they saw what was happening.

"I cannot believe you," Jude cried happily, clinging onto Connor.

"I—actually it was Josh who suggested it when I said I thinking about proposing," Connor ducked his head and blushed.

"Josh," Tyler exclaimed, tossing an arm around his boyfriend's shoulder. "You never told me you had a secret romantic side!"

"Surprise?" Josh chuckled. "Honestly, I always have, I just didn't think you'd be into it."

"Well I'm not, but—bro. Who would really object to gesture like that?"

Josh shrugged.

"You know, I always knew they'd get engaged before us," Tyler remarked.

"I almost beat him to it," Josh grumbled good-naturedly.

"Oh really?" Tyler replied, his eyebrows shooting up.

"Yeah, I was gonna do it while we were celebrating later," Josh answered and slapped the ring into Tyler's hand. "But whatever. So what do you say?"

"Oh come on, I know you weren't gonna do some grand thing, but you have to at least ask me properly," Tyler rolled his eyes, even though he was grinning.

"Alright fine, but you know I still can't really kneel," Josh responded. His knee never fully recovered from the injury back in his sophomore year. It was a big part of the reason he wasn't going to be going onto the next level of baseball. His knee just held him back too much for that to be a viable option. "Unlike those two, we have absolutely no fucking clue what we're doing next. But whatever I do, I want to do it with you, so, marry me?"

"You bet," Tyler giggled, putting the ring on his finger on his own. "C'mon, now let's go crash their engagement celebration."

"Crash?" Josh frowned. "Don't you mean join?"

"Same difference."

"It's not and you're ridiculous."

"You know you love it."

The four of them didn't get back to their room until late and Connor and Josh were so exhausted they just collapsed on their beds, dragging Jude and Tyler along with them. Jude couldn't stop grinning as he curled up around his—fiancé (and wow, wasn't that an awesome thing to be able to say), still wide awake from the adrenaline rush that hadn't worn off for him.

Connor's phone rang, and both Tyler and Josh yelled at him to shut it off, and Connor didn't even bother to open his eyes as he answered it.

"Hey buddy."

Connor immediately sat up, eyes wide. "Dad?"

"Yeah sport, it's me."

"What—" Connor swallowed thickly. "Why are you calling me?"

"To tell you that I'm proud of you."

Connor pulled the phone away from his ear and checked that it was really his dad on the line.

"I know that you're probably didn't expect to hear that from me, but I really mean it," Adam said softly. "I've been working really hard to get my life together and I—I like to think I'm not the person I used to be. So I just wanted to tell you that I'm happy for you. Jude seems like a wonderful young man."

For the second time that day, Connor started crying. "Thank you dad."

"Alright, well I guess that all I wanted to say. Bye Connor."

"Bye dad. I love you."

"Yeah son, I love you too."

Connor hung up and collapsed into his fiancé's arms, happier and more content than he'd ever been before. His life had come so far from where it was that first day when he learned that he and Jude were roommates.

I'm sorry about the last line...and everything else before it...basically I'm sorry for this whole mess of a final chapter.